1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an eye bandage which is worn on an eyeball of an eye after an intraocular surgical operation, so as to cover an incised portion of the sclera.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In order to protect the eye which has been subjected to an intraocular surgical operation in which the cornea or the sclera of the eye is incised, various measures are generally taken to treat the incised portion of the cornea or the sclera.
As well known, trabeculectomy is a surgical technique to treat glaucoma of an eye, in which the sclera is incised so as to resect the trabecula. At the incised portion of the sclera, there are formed filtration blebs through which the aqueous humor is drained or discharged to the subconjunctival space, to thereby prevent a rise of the intraocular pressure which would be caused by accumulation of an excessive amount of the aqueous humor between the cornea and the crystalline lens.
After the surgical operation described above, it is necessary to prevent an excessive amount of drainage of the aqueous humor from the filtration blebs, which may undesirably cause a considerable decrease in the intraocular pressure, resulting in various troubles with the eye. For preventing the excessive drainage of the aqueous humor, the filtration blebs are pressed by using suitable medical or therapeutic devices.
As one example of such medical devices to press the filtration blebs, a so-called "pressure patching" is conventionally used. Since the pressure patching is worn so as to cover the whole eye of the patient, the vision of the patient is lost.
In the light of the above drawback, it is proposed to use an eye bandage in place of the pressure patching. The eye bandage is worn directly on the eyeball such that it is held in contact with the cornea and the sclera, so as to cover the incised portion of the sclera. This eye bandage has a shape similar to that of a contact lens, and is formed of a transparent soft material, so that the vision of the patient's eye fitted with the bandage is not lost, while at the same time the patient enjoys a good wearing comfort of the eye bandage. Since the shape of the eye bandage is similar to that of the contact lens, the eye bandage can be easily worn on the eyeball of the patient just as the contact lens is worn on the eye.
The conventional eye bandage described above has a central portion which is to contact the cornea and corresponds to an optical portion of a soft contact lens generally used for rectifying the eyesight of the wearer. The conventional eye bandage, however, is not designed to press the filtration blebs of the incised portion of the sclera when it is worn on the eyeball, failing to press the filtration blebs as required. Thus, the conventionally used eye bandage is not satisfactory in preventing the excessive drainage of the aqueous humor from the filtration blebs.